ARC REVIEW - ALL FALL DOWN by Ally Carter

Grace can best be described as a daredevil, an Army brat, and a rebel. She is also the only granddaughter of perhaps the most powerful ambassador in the world and Grace has spent every summer of her childhood running across the roofs of Embassy Row.

Now, at age sixteen, she's come back to stay - in order to solve the mystery of her mother's death. In the process, she uncovers an international conspiracy of unsettling proportions, and must choose her friends and watch her foes carefully if she and the world are to be saved.

As a lover of Ally's previous work of the Gallagher Girls when I was younger, I felt I was thrown back into her writing straight away with All Fall Down, a YA thriller based on a girl trying to find answers to her mother's death.

Three Year's Ago, Grace's mum, the US Ambassador's daughter died in a fire, but Grace thinks different, she was there and she saw The Scarred Man pull the trigger, or did she? Everybody thought she was crazy, after she was in hospital, under medication trying to come to grips with her mom's death. Every since them she has been pulled pillar to post with father being in the army. Now returning to stay with her grandfather after years of summers apart, she uncovers far more than she should, involving a prime minister and conspiracy against her family. With the political aspect and the setting of Embassy Row you are completely thrown into the deep end. Gradually we start to reveal Grace's past through her flashbacks which seamlessly unravel themselves as we meet new people and familiar places of her childhood summers.

Grace is a very hotheaded character. She is quite a built up character, what I mean is that she is so tense with memories, that with what everything has happened to her, it's built and built and built until she comes to the boil, like she is simmering on a low heat before she can really emotionally explode. She thinks on the spot, she doesn't wait for anyone's permission, she just goes for it, no matter the consequences. If I was honest I found her character to be a bit overly dramatic, though considering that they believe her to be crazy sort of fits her character perfectly. I've always said that I haven't been fond of characters younger than my own age as I find they I don't connect with them on an intellectual level. Whilst you can feel disconnected with Grace, I think the plotline itself is very overwhelming and you are so focused on the conspiracy itself, which really worked well for the novel Combined with a familiar written style as Ally's, it was very cleverly done, in my opinion. I found this to be in favour of Grace's character and I found more connection in the secondary characters, like Ms Chancellor, Alexei, Rosie, Megan and Noah.

As I said, Grace has quite a headstrong type of persona, which let her the other characters, shine through the book a little more. Rosie, is quite flexible character, literally. She tends to go with the flow a lot which I found quite refreshing. Megan, a familiar face from Grace's past likes to show where her talents lie, she is the your Cammie Morgan from the Gallagher Girls, which I loved as Ally hasn't quite lost her her connection to her first series. We have the Noah, who instigated to be Grace's best friend from the start, which was very sweet and adorable. There were hints at a more romantic aspect to their relationship but I guess that will be decided as the series goes on. Finally Alexei, for me he was quite a surprise, I didn't really like him at first as he was far to up his own backside to really care what was happening. Until he really saw what was going through Grace's head. She was vulnerable, a bit of a damsel in distress behind that rebel skin of hers, and he was the one who could save her.

Whilst, some of the story was overwhelming at times with Grace's character, I found that I really enjoyed the novel overall. If I'm honest after reading this it sort or reminded me of a younger version of Conspiracy Girl only with more of a political aspect which is very realistic. With it's fast-paced nature, like all Ally Carter books, it really is unputdownable, addictive and a classy first novel of the series.

24 comments

I've enjoyed the addictive quality of Carter's past novels so I'm glad to see that, despite a few hindrances from the protagonist, this was a hit. Wonderful review, Emma, and I'm going to have to pick this one up soon!

I'm not a big fan of flashbacks, if I'm being honest, but the story does sound quite intriguing! I'm sorry you didn't really connect with Grace, but I'm glad you enjoyed the secondary characters more. I love bff romances though so I hope that Noah and Grace are a thing as the series continues? I'm glad you liked this as a whole, Emma!

I loved this book so much! I really liked Grace, though I can see why some might not like her all that much. I think all the supporting characters were pretty awesome and I'm really looking forward to get to know them more in the next books. I loved Noah, though I hope there will be nothing romantic between him and Grace. I don't like that in YA novels girl-boy (close) friendship is sort of nonexistent. Amazing review! :)

Yeah I think Grace is one of those characters that you either love or hate sometimes and I was sort of in-between. I'm not sure if I want anything to happen with Noah and Grace either. Thanks you, Veronika! :)

I do love a mystery unraveling combined with political intrigue, and some romance of course. Sounds like that may be coming in the future. I haven't read Ally Carter's previous series but I know Jasprit loved it. Nice to hear you enjoyed this one so well! Wonderful review, Emma! :)

I don't know why when I first heard about this book I thought that it wouldn't be for me, but I loved Ally's Heist series books, so after reading quite a few reviews of this book, this one definitely sounds like something that I would enjoy. I'm sorry that you weren't able to connect with Grace's character much, but at least this didn't take away the enjoyment of the book from you. Fab review Emma! :)

I didn't actually read Gallagher Girls but I have enjoyed Heist Society, and Carter's writing always stood out for me. I will definitely be reading this as soon as possible, although my schedule won't allow it for a few weeks yet. Stil, I'm very interested. I'll probably at least moderately enjoy it.

I haven't read that series yet, but really enjoyed her Gallagher Girls series so I will read Heist Society very soon. I really love her writing it was great getting back into it again! Hope you read this one soon. Thank you, Maja!

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Hi I'm Emma and I'm a 20- something year old bookworm. A Secondary School Librarian by day, introducing young readers to the wonder of the literary world. A Reader/blogger by night, reading my favourites including Holly Bourne, Lisa Heathfield, Shea Ernshaw, Sarah J.Maas, Emily Suvada and many more. What I love is that I continue to discover new authors everyday. I was honoured to be Shortlisted for Champion of Social Media UKYABA 2018! Please do read the ramblings of all the books I discover in my little corner of the internet. Feel free to say hi to me on Twitter and Instagram too below. Never Judge a Book by it's Cover established in 2012